Due to illness and absence the September issue of the Canberra Quilters’ newsletter, Connecting Threads, has been delayed. It is now expected to be released during this week. This applies to both the printed and e-versions.

Due to illness and absence the September issue of the Canberra Quilters’ newsletter, Connecting Threads, will be delayed. This applies to both the printed and e-versions. It is expected to be released in approximately one week.

Within the quilting community there is a small, almost-secret society, of lovers of the Tour de France. Le Tour runs for three weeks, starting this year on 4 July, and always includes Bastille Day (14 July).

Le Tour offers quilters some wonderful inspiration. There are the colours – team uniforms, cycles, and the French countryside. Being on the route of the tour is a big deal and the cities, towns and villages make the most of their moment in the spotlight with the way they decorate their environment.

The pattern in the roads, the fields and crops, the cobblestones all offer ideas for piecing, appliqué and quilting. The farmers will often decorate or creatively harvest their fields that are near the road.

The broadcast uses helicopter shots a lot and this gives you some wonderful views of the many chateaux and churches. They get in quite close so that you can see the patterns in the stone.

The overhead shots of the gardens of some chateaux makes you think of symmetrical appliqué blocks – in the Baltimore, Karen Kay Buckley or Kerry Gavin style. The dizzying swoosh up and down hairpin bends on the mountain roads are like rows of serpentine quilting.

Adding to all the visuals is the time – you can achieve a lot in the 3 to 4 hours of a broadcast, even if it runs to the early hours.

The final inducement to join our secret society – men in Lycra, of course!

The digital version of the June issue of Connecting Threads magazine was released today. If you signed up to receive your Canberra Quilter’s newsletter via email link then it was in your inbox this morning.

There is a special section on quilting in Japan, with images and links to interesting sites. Authors are Michelle Law and Wendy Pang.

In the email there is also a link to the 2015 exhibition pack. This is also available on the CQ website here.

Some members have encountered a problem accessing the electronic version of the March issue of Connecting Threads. Canberra Quilters committee apologise to members experiencing a problem and are trying to get it fixed for future issues.

It has been determined that the problem exists for members using Internet Explorer (IE) as their browser. Members using Safari, Firefox or Chrome are not encountering the problem. It has not been possible to use the normal scroll, save or print within Adobe Reader when viewing the newsletter in IE.

To overcome this members are advised to:

Use the menu bar in Internet Explorer and select File, then Save As from the drop down menu, saving it with a .pdf extension in a folder you can readily access.

Use Windows Explorer (yellow folders icon) click on the saved file and it will open in Adobe Reader. This will then allow you to zoom, scroll through and print. Hit F8 if the toolbar is not showing in Adobe Reader.

The latest issue of Connecting Threads should be arriving in members’ letterboxes from today. You will notice one thing is missing – the exhibition pack! Don’t worry, you haven’t missed out – it will be coming with the June newsletter.

Here is an explanation and a revised key dates table:

The Exhibition Pack is not included in with the March issue of Connecting Threads as there were still unresolved matters at the time the newsletter went for printing and packaging. The pack will be included with the June newsletter, still giving you three weeks to meet the entry deadline of 20 June 2014. The information in the pack will be posted on the website in May for those who like to get their entries in early.

Are you interested in receiving the Canberra Quilters’ newsletter, Connecting Threads, by email?

If so, you can give your name and email address to Jakki Cashman or use the Contact Us section of the website to indicate that you would like to join the trial group. The committee will monitor the response, collect any feedback and consider issues associated with emailed newsletters.

At the CQ meeting in August I announced that as a trial I would send Connecting Threads by email to interested members. All members should have received their September issue hard copies, but the trial didn’t happen, because with the exhibition and all there was too much going on for me to sit down with the software and work out the best way of doing things. I’ll try again for the December issue – for which the deadline for advertising and contributions will be Friday 9 November.